Hotel Schloss Matzen Garni — Attraction in Reith im Alpbachtal

This castle hotel looks absolutely stunning, but we did not have a comfortable stay here at all, so we stayed only 1 night instead of the 3 nights we had originally booked.

We had reserved one of the big deluxe suites, and got the one called "Wittelsbach" (room 14). It was a gorgeous suite, with loads of space and very impressive, majestic decor. Sadly, the experience was marred by several things that made our stay there so frustrating that we chose to check out early. The biggest problem was the bed, which had really abysmal bedding with the flattest pillows I have ever seen (imagine empty pillow cases.. using a towel for a pillow would have been better) and duvets that were very fluffy but still somehow empty and shapeless (kept falling out of the worn duvet covers, it was like a wresting match all night) and not comfortable at all. My partner and I both slept very poorly in that room and woke up feeling like wrecks in the morning. Also didn't help that the 2 windows opposite the bed had no curtains or coverings either, got bright very early.

Other things that made our experience disappointing was the non-functional wifi (which probably also caused the non-existent TV channel situation), the fridge that didn't work and the wonky handle to the toilet door which almost caused my partner to get locked in the bathroom. The included breakfast was also not great. The breakfast room itself looked nice enough as a space but the food selection felt very sparse and not inspiring at all. Definitely not the "copious breakfast" one would expect from the description.

When we talked to the hotel manager and pointed out the non-functional things in our room (bed, wifi, fridge etc), it was simply dismissed straight away and we got the impression that these faults were known and just.. never corrected. Despite the poor experience and our obvious unhappiness we didn't receive a single apology at any point or any assurance that things would get fixed. It's disappointing that things that are listed as amenities (and even pointed out by staff as amenities at check-in) are broken and not fixed, and that no effort is made to repair them.

In the hotel's defence should be mentioned that they did offer us another suite instead, but we felt that our experience and our Austria holiday had gotten off to such a poor start that we did not want to stay. We were exhausted after our bad night, so we chose to check out early and just go home again. We were not charged for those 2 reserved nights that we skipped, so we appreciated that at least.

We really wanted to like this hotel, and on the surface it does look fantastic with the castle ambience and everything. However, looks alone do not make a good hotel stay, and for us it's important to be able to sleep well and have a comfortable stay so that we have energy for our days out, and we simply did not...

This hotel was really an exceptional experience, and if I ever return to this part of Austria, I will be back.

It's a real castle, and you can tell it's a real castle. The owners have clearly spent a lot of effort to make meaningful upgrades for modern living in a way that respects and appreciates the history of the space. Everything exudes antiquity, from the main door (which uses an actual stone as a counterweight to make it close instead of a spring or piston) to the keys to the monstrous wardrobes in the rooms. At the same time, the rooms are well-lit and quiet, the bathrooms are modern (mine had a bidet and a generous shower), and my room even had a small refrigerator (with some space for putting my own items, though the minibar was also relatively fairly priced--abd the staff have to haul those items up many flights of stairs!).

Yes, as other reviews have said, there is some modern infrastructure that is absent (e g., elevators) but why are you staying in a literal castle if you want to experience a run-of-the-mill Marriott hotel? The things that matter are the things that contribute to the castle/schloss experience. The room decor is incredible with wardrobes so large you may go to Narnia if you get inside them, and double windows that keep the rooms quiet and warm. The castle is surrounded by a lovely park for taking a stroll, and a quaint restaurant is located on the premises. There is ample interior courtyard/patio/riyad space for hanging out on warm nights. The breakfast room is small but functional, with a considerably tall ceiling and flanked by remarkably large taxidermied game. And there is also actually decent WiFi available (surprising, given the meter-thick stone walls),

Worthy of note, I cannot say enough good about the host/master of this hotel. Although it's a castle, it really feels at times like an intimate and elaborate bed & breakfast. The woman running the operation plays the role of host, busser, concierge, administrator, party organizer, and even chef for breakfast. Her English is much better than my German, and she showed me up to my room and explained everything very clearly.

This castle hotel a short train ride from Innsbruck and a couple kilometer walk through a park from the train station. It's convenient to Brixlegg and Rattenberg, which are lovely towns to visit. I'd heartily recommend it to anyone that wants a little bit of a...

My wife and I stayed at Scloss Matzen in December as the last leg of our European road trip and could not be more disappointed with every aspect of the stay.

I will start with the most egregious part of the experience, the management. My wife had specifically reserved the Junior suite weeks prior to our stay so we can enjoy the indoor bathtub. As we arrived in the evening the staff was closing for the night and barely showed us to our room which turned out to NOT be the Junior suite. The castle either overbooked the room or someone mistakenly moved us, either way we were not made aware of this change or else we would have cancelled the booking. Of course the receptionist went home so there was nothing we could do except write a letter that night to management. We had terrible sleep and decided to leave the next morning. When we checked out and eventually spoke to the manager to refund us at minimum the 2nd night for their mistake, they were short in the email and offered us a future night accommodation which we did not care for. After another exchange pushing for a refund the manager was completely unprofessional and stopped responding altogether. We are still waiting for a response and will be reaching out to the CEO.

The room we stayed in smelled like sour bleach and even after airing out the room for hours the smell lingered. The pillows were paper thin and there were tears in the linen. The spa turned out to be a paid spa and you have to reserve way in advance which is surprising for a "luxury" castle. The only positive thing I could say is the restaurant down below was nice and the food was good but turns out that is a separate business entity from castle.

Overall I give this castle a 1 out of 5 stars. The lack of professional management is the worst I've seen. I don't understand how you can brush off guests after a terrible experience and deciding to leave early. Perhaps because we prepaid they're trying to keep every euro they can and their voucher offer is a hedge play because who would want to...